A screen grab from YouTube video of the Meijer store in question, posted by UpNorthLive. (YouTube/UpNorthLive)

(Newser)
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A Michigan man lost his job at retailer Meijer last month, and he tells UpNorthLive.com it's because he helped fight a fire. David Bowers says he put safety above company rules when he dropped his greeting duties and hurried to a reported van fire in the parking lot. "When the guy came in and said his dashboard was on fire, I grabbed the fire extinguisher and I followed him outside," Bowers says. "Sure enough, his dashboard was on fire."

After Bowers took care of the fire, he headed back to his greeting position. But he was soon suspended, then fired for disobeying company policy. "One supervisor told me that my heart was in the right place, but my brain wasn't," he says. The van's owner, Ken Kuzon, calls the situation "ridiculous. Why should you be penalized for being a good samaritan?" Bowers had previously been suspended for dropping his duties to pursue a shoplifter. Meijer—which is seeing a Facebook backlash—tells MLive.com that "this was not a random decision":

"We have well-established safety procedures for emergency situations and we train all team members on those procedures. These procedures help ensure the safety of everyone—both customers and team members, and our team members know there are consequences when they don’t follow them."

What absolute bullsh*t...that man should be applauded and give a bonus, not kicked to the curb. Totally backward and selfish company policy.

loveandhope

Dec 16, 2013 8:57 AM CST

The decision that they have made is probably going to negatively affect their business because this story made the news. Like, who would want to shop their now. Your suppose to help your customers and to make them want to return. Not, abandon them. smh

loveandhope

Dec 16, 2013 8:52 AM CST

This is bogus. It seems like the jobs that pay less (minimum wage), have the most ridiculous rules. I would have gotten fired too because I would have done what he did. I think that the least they could do is give him some kind of reward for his selfless act.